Tropical Storm
by Steele Rose
Summary: During a strong storm, Micah hears something outside. He checks the inn to see if anything has gone wrong, but ends up checking on everybody in the village. Rune Factory 3


He woke up and was greeted with the rattling of the windows next to him. He knew immediately that today was going to be a dangerous, all the while a boring day. This has happened a few times before and there were normally no casualties of any kind save for a few crops being destroyed. Although during the last tropical storm, the elf artist was boneheaded enough to try and spot a rainbow in the rain and the dark clouds, resulting in a three-day span sitting in the apothecary drinking terribly tasting medicine. He smiled at this memory; everyone in this town was strange in their own way, even he himself. Amnesiacs who don't remember anything except language are certainly strange, and he had learned a few months ago that he had the ability to transform into a monster. Since he knew that he couldn't do anything to save his crops anyway, he lay back down and closed his eyes.

Suddenly a sharp snapping. His eyes burst open.

Curious, he grabbed his shield and climbed down the ladder to his fields. Since he had heard the sound, the sound had probably come from somewhere close. He reached the ground and held his shield over his head to avoid getting wet. He scanned the area and found no damages. Still curious, he began to make his way to the town.

"Where are you going? This wind is going to blow you away if you go out."

He turned around and saw his goblin pirate leaning on the wall of the barn. He may have been the only monster he had who was capable of speech.

"I thought I heard something, so I'll go look around for a bit. I shouldn't be gone for long."

"Stay true to your word. If you get sick, it's extra work for me and the other guys." He grinned.

"I'll keep that in mind."

The goblin pirate turned around and closed the door of the barn. Other than the pastry chef, that goblin may have been the only guy who he was close friends with. In fact, there really weren't many other men in this village. The pastry chef, who claimed to be fifteen years of age, was the only boy who looked to be around his age (although that may not be true, he had no way of knowing his own age).

Once he stepped out of the cover given by his tree, he scanned the area. No damage. After looking around for a couple of minutes, he turned eastward and made his way to the inn. Perhaps something fell. The women who worked at the inn were a nice family. There was no known father and one of them was not blood related. The bath worker was an excitable and rather airheaded girl. She was not related to the innkeeper, but was treated like a daughter. In fact, she was a mermaid with an unhealthy obsession with baths and a deep hatred for squid. The innkeeper's daughter was actually very friendly, but seemed to use him to her advantage sometimes, much to his dismay. She would go out and explore a lot, coming home with a few cuts and bruises and selling her salvage. The innkeeper herself was the most welcoming person in the village. She would also teach him how to use his sword and would keep him in good shape.

He arrived at the inn and still found nothing. Well, since he was here, he might as well take a look inside and see if everyone was okay. Stumbling and hitting his head hard against his shield, he made his way across the bridge and knocked on the door. After waiting a few seconds, Shino opened the door. She was rather surprised to see the farmer come at all in the weather, but nevertheless, she gave him a welcoming smile.

"Hey, I heard something pretty loud and dangerous sounding. Is everyone okay here?" He asked.

The innkeeper gave him a confused smile, but shook her head.

"I don't think what you're looking for is here, but I'm glad you decided to make sure we were okay."

"Do you have any guests today?"

"Nobody has come in, but we've told all of our current guests to stay inside for today. Sakuya has made sure of it." She assured.

"Where is she?"

"Most likely in her room with Pia. Everything here is alright, you don't have to worry."

He stepped forward and leaned forward to look around the room. It was strangely quiet. He could only hear the faint voices of Pia and Sakuya in the back rooms.

"I guess I'll be going then."

"You aren't giving up on finding the source of that sound?"

"Nope."

He nodded and turns as the innkeeper shuts the door. Then he heard the pastry chef's voice from the neighboring building. Perhaps the family of chefs has a good idea.

The café's family was also very friendly. The gourmet chef was a rather quiet man and was too polite to think badly of. As mature as he was, he never drank. The chef's daughter was also an aspiring chef. She was a full on glutton. Not even the devil could have compared to the gluttony that was Collette. As much as she ate, she was actually the smallest teen in the village. The pastry chef was one of his best friends. He had a deep hatred of vegetables and seemed to enjoy talking badly of them. Now that he thought of it, sweets and girls seemed to be the only things that he was interested in. He was easy to tease and was always the butt of jokes when he and the fisherman's little sister were with him. He was happy to know that he had his own little group of friends. During festivals, the three would come together and create an alliance. They have only prevailed once during the Turnip throwing festival. They had kept hitting each other over and over and ended up with the most points. Carmen somehow had the most, but he and Rusk were in second and third respectively. They also loved to mess with the fisherman, but there were too many stories to tell at the moment.

He knocked on the door and felt a sharp strain on his left arm as he struggled to keep the shield over his head. Rusk immediately opened the door and looked really stressed.

"Something bothering you?" The amnesiac spoke first.

"Well for one, you're not in your house, but I'm currently waiting for my dad to come home for business. He said that he was coming home today, but this weather is making me anxious." He tapped his feet.

"He'll be fine. Blaise isn't weak. Not only that, but he has a reason to survive. He has two kids waiting at home."

"Glad to hear your optimism, but the weather here is nothing compared to the weather where he went. Hopefully he's already left and taken shelter at a different village." Rusk did seem a little better though.

"Alright. Where's your sister?"

He stepped aside a bit and signaled to the counter that his father usually sat behind. Collette was fast asleep next to an empty plate.

"She passed out, I think. She ate everything in the pantry and said she didn't have enough energy to cook anything from the fridge."

"So what are you going to do?" He stepped inside and leaned on the wall.

He frowned. "I'm going to try and revive her by making some food. Change of subject though, what are you doing walking around outside?"

"I heard something."

He expected more for a minute, and after hearing nothing, shook his head.

"You'd better get home soon. This wind is getting faster and faster." He urged him outside and smiled. "Knowing you, I'm not really expecting you to listen to anything I say. You're probably gonna go check every other house now. Once you start doing something, you keep moving until you finish. I'm guessing you were at the inn before coming here?" Rusk gave a small chuckle.

"You are completely correct. Checking on everyone wasn't my initial reason for going outside, but now it is."

"Hmm…" Rusk gave a skeptical look and stared at him.

"What? Is there something wrong with me?" He felt uneasy.

Rusk gave a playful grin. "You went to go check on Karina first didn't you?"

"Hey, even if I did, there's no reason you should be asking about it." He felt even more uneasy.

He gave him a little shove. "I'm just messing with you. Since you came from the inn, you're probably on your way to the mansion, right?"

"Right."

He turns around and exits the café. He knows his next destination. The wealthy family was most likely the strangest group of characters in the entire village. The clothing designer was the tamest, yet she had a strange taste in materials to use for her clothes. Her favorite material to use was fish, but she also has her fair share of vegetable clothes as well. Her father was probably the strangest man in the village. He was a large, round man with green hair, unlike his purple and blue haired daughters, and his appetite rivaled that of the chef's daughter. Not only that, but he would at time speak in opposites, saying things that he means the complete opposite of while maintaining the expression he would have if he said it normally. The youngest daughter took after the manner of speaking that her father had and was a bit airheaded. She also had an interest in useless garbage, most notably cans.

The mansion is humongous, and he was always impressed whenever he neared it. He approached the mansion and began rapping at the door. Sherman appeared a little while later.

"Good evening. Why are you so far from your home in this great weather?"

"What's up Sherman? I thought I heard something, but I haven't found anything." He gives Sherman a small smile. "Do you have any idea?"

"I do think I heard something. I'm sorry."

"That's alright. How are Sofia and Evelyn?"

"They are doing just terrible, thank you." Sherman assured.

"Great to hear. I'll be going now." He waves and goes on his way.

"Don't be safe!" Sherman shouted.

"Thanks."

His next destination was the apothecary. The old witch was just what you would expect from the old woman in the neighborhood. She was very kind and was willing to do anything to make sure everyone was healthy. Despite this, she had a playful side. Her granddaughter was almost exactly like her, except she was a bit reckless and was willing to go to extremes to test her medicine. She would show great disappointment when nobody gets hurt during festivals. She often used the chef's daughter as a lab rat, but the two were best friends.

Marjorie opened the door before he arrived and held an irritated expression.

"I've seen you walking door to door. You're going to catch a cold, and you might get hurt. This wind is getting stronger by the minute. Making sure that everyone else is alright won't do you any good when you're not alright yourself." She scolded.

He scratched the back of his head. "I'm sorry. I just feel like everyone in this town deserves the best. Everyone has been great to me. I think the least I could do is make sure everyone is alright."

"You're not doing anyone good if you get hurt."

"I guess you have a point, but now that I've begun checking on everyone, I have to finish checking on everyone." He let out a deep sigh.

"I won't stop you, but just come back tomorrow. I'll be surprised if you don't get sick after this."

"So will I. Is Marian okay?"

Marian shouted from the other side of the house. "I'm not going to get killed by a hurricane when I'm in my own house."

Marjorie whispered. "She might get killed by her own experiments, though."

His eyes began to wander around the house. He always felt awkward here. The two were just so alike, but he felt that one wrong move could mean something totally different to them. He once stared at his wrist for a couple of minutes, and Marian thought that he had an infection. Marjorie spent the day trying to figure out what Marian did to him.

"I'll be going then."

"Where?" Marjorie asked.

"I guess the flower shop, and then I'll have to make a stop at the fishing resort."

Marian's voice again. "The fishing resort is closed. They shut down everything and are staying at the flower shop."

"What for?"

"The lake has started to create its own waves."

Marjorie smiled. "Considering how close the resort is to the lake, Carlos probably became very worried and decided to move back a bit." She let out a chuckle.

"Thank you. "

"Don't do anything stupid."

"Yes ma'am."

He turned around and, thinking about his last conversation, decided against dropping the shield. His arms were very weak now though. Next was the flower shop. The mayor lived there. He had a deep hatred for monsters, but he never gave a reason why. Even so, he was a kind old man. His granddaughters were both flower lovers. The elder granddaughter was a polite young lady who ran the flower shop. She was also the first person he met in this town. The younger granddaughter was very shy and a bit brash. The first time he had met her, she had bitten him and the mark is still slightly visible after a year. He approached the shop and looked through the window. It was almost afternoon. Shara was by herself tending to the flowers and immediately noticed his presence. He waved and she went to open the door.

"Hey! What are you doing in this weather? You're going to get hurt!"

"I heard Carlos and Carmen were here." He stepped inside and looked around.

"Yes, they asked for shelter from the incoming waves."

"I saw the waves. They didn't even reach the resort."

She giggled. "Carlos isn't taking any chances." Then she frowned. "You never answered my question."

"Just making sure everyone is alright. There's nothing wrong with that. Is there?"

He looked around and heard the shuffling of feet from upstairs. He then heard a scream, probably from Carlos, and a laugh from Carmen. Carlos was a great guy with a lot of heart, but he became over protective when it came to Carmen. He was the very model of pro angler. Carmen herself was something else. As said before, he, Carmen, and Rusk created a trio that would often cause quite a few, what he liked to call, unintentional events. Carmen was by far the most mischievous. She had a passion for fishing and was quite determined. She liked to see herself as a leader and, to be honest, she probably was.

"Seems like fun." He sports.

"You have no idea."

"Everything seems fine here. I hope you have a safe night."

"You too. By the way, you missed the blacksmith."

Oh yeah. He did. How did she know? "Ugh."

He stepped back outside and made his way back to the blacksmith. The blacksmith himself was a nice guy, but he often overworked himself and was obsessed with rocks. The amnesiac often didn't see him doing anything except forging weapons. His assistant, if he could call her that, was quiet, if not hasty. She would often answer or ask questions using no more than three words. Once when asking when the forge would be finished being built, she replied by saying that it will be finished 'when it's finished'. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer. He heard a faint 'I'm coming!' and was shortly greeted by Gaius.

"What's up?"

He was surprised by his lack of concern of the weather. "Not much. I just wanted to make sure everything was alright here."

Gaius blinked. "Why, is something wrong?"

It was his turn to blink. "You do know there's a tropical storm out today, right?"

"I had no idea. Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"I thought you would figure out on your own. You never noticed?"

Gaius chuckled. "I've been forging weapons all day. I was wondering why we got no customers. I was actually also wondering why Raven wasn't saying anything to me. Not that she normally does."

"Raven's not here?"

Raven appeared from the stairs and looked as though she had heard enough.

"Gaius, if you decided to look around for once, you would've noticed this storm." Raven explains.

"Why haven't you told me anything?"

The amnesiac obtruded. "She probably figured you'd find out on your own. Expecting no customers, she probably rested all day."

Raven nodded. "That's correct."

Gaius deflated. "I guess. Thanks for coming. Good luck getting home in this darkness and this storm."

Raven thought for a moment. "You still need to check on Karina and Daria."

He raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know?"

"It took you until night to reach the blacksmith. You went to the inn first."

He stared at her.

"Um… okay. Good night then."

He turned around and didn't hear either of them say anything. Good talk. The storm was a bit weaker now. The wind wasn't nearly as strong and the rain was nothing but a slight drizzle.

Next was the general store. He felt like part of the family there. The shopkeeper acted much like a mother to him. She was a hard worker and was often stressed. With the amount of stress she often gave herself, it's very hard to figure out how she managed to stay young. The shopkeeper's daughter was close to a best friend to him. Aside from the monsters in his barn, she was the only one who knew he was half-monster. Unlike her mother, she was incredibly lazy and often slept while working. In fact, she was so lazy that during an attempt to run away, he was told that she was headed in the direction of Oddward Valley. He found the sword she bought on the floor of the entrance. He believed that she believed that she didn't need it. Panicking, he began running forward and found her sitting on the floor a few yards away. Her pathetic effort caused him to trip when he found her immediately after he began to run. She claimed that she actually did, in fact, try to run away. He was at the door now and it was getting late. He knocked and Hazel appeared almost immediately after.

"I see you've come to check on my daughter now that the storm has died down a bit." Hazel teased.

He felt strangeness from this comment, but shrugged it off. "Actually, this is one of the last houses I've checked. After this, Daria is the last person I need to check."

Hazel studied him for a minute, which made him feel the need to straighten up. After a while, she put on a bright expression.

"I see you aren't lying. Was there any reason you went out in the storm to check on everyone?"

Oh. Yeah, that. "Oh, I heard a strange sound and decided to investigate. I ended up checking on everyone in the village."

Hazel smiled. "That was Karina dropping everything in front of the store after realizing that working through the storm was too much work. The basket was then blown away and hit the sign in the crossroads." She sighed. "I told her to bring it back in if the storm was too strong."

"Great, it only took me the entire day and trudging against the wind to figure it out."

"In the end, it brought you here didn't it?"

"Does that mean anything?" He raised an eyebrow.

Hazel smiled. "Don't let it bother you." She figured that he would do a better job running the store than her own daughter.

"Hmm, now that that's cleared up, I might as well finish up what I've been doing all day. How's Karina?"

"She slept so much today she probably can't sleep anymore."

"So where is she?"

"Upstairs I guess."

He felt obligated to go up there, but it was late and he wanted to go home. He was tired and hungry.

"Great, I guess I'll be going to Daria's place then."

He turned to leave, but was stopped by Hazel.

"Serge came here a while ago."

"He did?" The goblin told him not to be gone for too long.

"Yeah, he told me that you probably wouldn't listen to him when he said to come back, and he knew you would eventually come here. He wanted me to relay a message."

He raised an eyebrow. "And that is…?"

"He wanted me to tell you that everyone says thanks. He's been following you and came here after you missed the blacksmith." She smiled. "I wanted to say thank you too. He's speaking to Daria right now. You don't have to visit her."

He suddenly had to smile at this. He felt that he had to say thank you to everyone. It might have been the other way around for today. Suddenly, the pirate appeared behind him.

"Daria says thank you too. Although she doesn't quite understand what's going on. You know, me and the guys at the barn wanted to give you our thanks too." He kept a stern expression, but his eyes weren't as tense.

Karina began her way down the stairs. "Sup. Am I missing something?"

Hazel smiled. "Micah has made his way through the storm to make sure you're all right. Do you have anything to say to him?"

Karina just stared. He walked around in the storm at night in order to walk to the general store to make sure she was all right?

Micah spoke up. "You know, I wouldn't have done any of this if you didn't leave that basket outside this morning."

She understood completely.

"Thank you."

* * *

What's up everyone? I felt obligated to write something like this when I heard hurricane Sandy was coming through. So I started about 4 days before this was published. Luckily for me, I finished before the power went out and I've had to wait 20 hours to publish this. But I was lucky, I've seen what this hurricane has done to other.

For those of you who've been hit by this hurricane, I hope you all are safe.


End file.
